Start-finish victory for Thomas Preining (18, Austria, Lechner Racing): Racing on home turf, local driver won the first ADAC Formula 4 race at the Red Bull Ring and thus gave himself the best present ever to mark his 18th birthday. The only Austrian in the field of drivers in the ADAC High Speed Academy took his maiden victory in the ADAC Formula 4 by finishing in front of rookie Juri Vips (15, Estonia, Prema Powerteam) and Kim-Luis Schramm (19, GER, US Racing). Vips also secured his maiden podium.
"That was an excellent race. The team and I worked very well together, which leaves me wanting more. My goal was to secure a home win, which I´ve done, so I´m obviously happy," said Thomas Preining: "The next race takes place tomorrow when I will certainly try to repeat my success."
The two championship contenders Joey Mawson (20, Australia, Van Amersfoort Racing) and Mick Schumacher (17, Germany, Prema Powerteam) also produced strong performances. Championship leader Mawson moved up from eleventh place on the grid to fourth position, thus securing twelve vital points. Schumacher improved from 15th place to sixth. Rookie Nicklas Nielsen (19, Denmark, Neuhauser Racing) in P5 finished sandwiched between the two drivers.
Mawson now has 214 points to his name in the overall standings. He has increased his lead on Schumacher (190) by four points to 24. Mike David Ortmann (16, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg), rookie Felipe Drugovich (16, Brazil, Neuhauser Racing), Preining´s teammate Michael Waldherr (19, Germany, Lechner Racing) and Simo Laaksonen (17, Finland, Motopark) booked positions seven, eight, nine and ten.
Preining, who celebrated his 18th birthday on Thursday, produced a faultless performance. He drew a few metres away from his rivals right at the start as he comfortably defended P1. Meanwhile, Mawson and Schumacher were also able to work their way up to the front of the field and into the points by executing skilful overtaking manoeuvres.
The safety car came out briefly on track after a contact between Jonathan Aberdein (18, South Africa, Motopark) and Fabio Scherer (17, Switzerland, Jenzer Motorsport) and was called out again following another contact between ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Jannes Fittje (17, Germany, US Racing) and Lirim Zendeli (16, Germany, ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg).
But Preining did not let any of that put him off his stride. On the contrary, the local driver pulled out a lead again as a cushion after the two restarts and drove unchallenged to his maiden victory.
SPORT1 and SPORT1+ will broadcast Races 14 and 15 live on Sunday from the Red Bull Ring. Mawson is in pole position for the second race at 09.50. He will line up in front of Preining and ahead of teammate Kami Laliberté (16, Canada, Van Amersfoort Racing). Schumacher will have to launch his charge up the field from P33. Laaksonen will start from the top spot ahead of Waldherr and Drugovich in the third race at 13.45. Schumacher will be in fifth place, Mawson seventh.
More comments from the ADAC Formula 4:
Juri Vips (Second and best-placed rookie, Prema Powerteam): "This is my maiden podium in the ADAC Formula 4. It´s great that my results are slowly starting to come good. I´ve driven better in the last few races than I did initially. I got away to a great start, Thomas was very fast. I just couldn´t catch him, unfortunately. Still, I defended my position well and am very happy with it."
Kim-Luis Schramm (Third, US Racing): "Third place is absolutely fine. We were pretty fast initially but, unfortunately, lost a position at the start, which was a bit annoying. I was able to keep up at first and was perhaps slightly faster than the front-runners. However, I didn´t have much speed towards the end and had to position myself more to the rear of the field. Joey Mawson was quicker towards the end, but I knew how I had to defend in this situation, and that worked out fine. Joey is one of the best fighters in the field, and to have kept him behind me is not too bad. I´ll be in grid position five tomorrow, so another podium should again be possible."
Walter Lechner Jr (Team Principal, Lechner Racing): "I´m obviously very pleased. If you can´t be pleased about pole position and a faultless race, then something must be wrong. It´s really great that it all worked out for us in our home race in Austria in front of friends, sponsors. This is really terrific for the whole team. Thomas is doing a great job, is very focused, always on time, always there, always one hundred percent on the limit and does everything he can for us and the team. We´re a terrific combination and aim to get a lot of enjoyment out of the rest of the season."